Which pharmaceutical company has the best reputation according to Canadian patient groups?

Pharma companies are being seen in a better light after the second year of the pandemic, according to the latest edition of “The Corporate Reputation of Pharma in 2021.” The survey, which asks Canadian patient groups for their opinions on the industry, found that with 66% of respondents said the industry’s reputation was excellent or good in 2021, up from 44% in 2020. The report was put together by Research and Markets, a market-research enterprise. The pandemic response likely factored in that high opinion: 84% said the pharmaceutical industry was very effective or effective at supporting patients during COVID-19, while 62% said the same in 2020. The companies that had the best reputations overall in the survey were Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim and Roche. Amgen’s reputation rose the most over the year, while Bayer, Merck + Co, Pfizer and Sanofi also increased significantly. Read: Avengers, vaccinate! Pfizer and BioNTech partner with Marvel Comics on comic book that promotes vaccines The survey, which was conducted between November 2021 and February 2022, asked 124 Canadian patient groups what they thought about how the pharmaceutical industry performed during 2021. Patient groups, which are funded partially by pharmaceutical companies, were thought to understand both the perspectives of patients and the various healthcare stakeholders. It wasn’t all positive: Pharma scored poorly on drug pricing, with 17% of respondents saying the industry is excellent or good at pricing medication. Many expressed concern that drugs were cost-prohibitive and out of reach of some patients as a result. The patient groups remarked on the opaqueness of both the industry's price-setting mechanisms and its pricing negotiations with governments. Along the same lines, the patient groups wanted the industry to be more transparent about how it sets prices and negotiated them with governments. “Be more open about the costs of development, and be able to justify the price of their products,” one national rare-disease patient group said in the survey. Read: Amgen to buy Horizon Therapeutics in US$26.4B deal They were also worried that some new products were “me too” drugs instead of representing real advancements in medicine or improvements to patients’ quality of life. “Do not create additional solutions, or expensive drug-delivery devices, that add to the cost, and make the ultimate product out of the reach of many patients,” a national skin-conditions patient group commented in the survey. That’s not the only issue with access: they also worried that delays caused by the pandemic by pre-existing issues in the system resulted in new medications moving too slowly through the approval and reimbursement process. These groups are advocating for change around this and want pharma to advocate as well. “Continue to work with the government to ensure that Canadians have access to these life-changing therapies,” one national Gaucher’s-disease patient group said in the survey. Finally, they wanted more arm’s-length agreements with pharma to maintain more independence from the companies that fund them. Read: Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine will cost US$110 to $130 per dose

Which pharmaceutical company has the best reputation according to Canadian patient groups?

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